Squiggly Careers

Are you a conversational narcissist? In this Squiggly Shortcut, Sarah introduces a deceptively simple idea from Celeste Headlee that will change how you listen, and make you notice everyone else's conversations differently too.

🎯 What You'll Learn
– What a shift response is, why we all do it, and why it matters more than you might think
– What a support response sounds like in practice, and how it changes the dynamic of a conversation
– Why assuming your experience is the same as someone else's can get in the way of really listening
– How to notice your own patterns over the next week, and what to do with that awareness

📚 Resources Mentioned
Episode 207: Celeste Headlee on the Squiggly Careers podcast: xx

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com
Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/
2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/
3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod
4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Uncertainty isn't going anywhere. So what if the goal wasn't to get rid of it, but to get better at holding it?

In this episode, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from a feeling and dive deep into one of the most relevant topics in work and careers right now.

Drawing on Margaret Heffernan's Embracing Uncertainty, Sam Conniff and Katherine Templar-Lewis's Uncertainty Toolkit, and a brilliant HBR article, they explore what it really means to develop the capacity to hold uncertainty, and what your default response to it reveals about you.

🎯 What You'll Learn

– Why the goal isn't uncertainty to certainty, but uncertainty to the capacity to hold

– How to find your own uncertainty tolerance score (with an AI prompt on the podsheet to help)

– Why leaders feel more pressure than most to appear decisive, and what the research says about that

– How to use a simple matrix to plot your uncertainty by impact and duration, and respond differently depending on which quadrant you're in

– Why patience might be the most underrated skill in uncertain times, and how Helen and Sarah both score themselves on it

– What it means to reframe uncertainty as opportunity rather than threat

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/

3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod

4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Your career doesn't need a bigger network, it needs a better one. In this Squiggly Shortcut, Helen shares the four roles that matter most for your career community, and why focusing on just these four makes building your career relationships feel a lot more doable.

🎯 What You'll Learn
– What a mentor actually is (and why they don't need to be senior or long-term to be valuable)
– Why a peer — someone going through what you're going through right now — can be one of the biggest accelerators for your career
– How to spot a sponsor and what you need to do before they'll advocate for you
– Why a coach doesn't have to be a qualified one, and what to look for instead
– What to do if you're lucky enough to have one person who plays all four roles

📚 Resources Mentioned
Episode 215 - How to find a career sponsor with Sylvia Ann Hewlett: https://www.amazingif.com/listen/how-to-find-a-career-sponsor/

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com
Need some more squiggly career support?

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/
2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/
3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod
4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How close are you to yourself, your team and the people you serve? In this episode, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from the concept of zero distance, a philosophy championed by brands like e.l.f. Beauty, and turn it into one of the most honest and practical self-reflection exercises they've done on the podcast.

Using Post-it® Notes and a simple scale, they plot themselves live on six different dimensions of distance, from how well they know their own strengths and feelings, to how much feedback they really get from their team, to how close they are to the people they're there to help.

This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Post-it® Brand. If today's episode sparked an idea, stick it down - find out where to buy Post-it® products at go.3M.com/squiggly

🎯 What You'll Learn

– What zero distance means and why brands like e.l.f. Beauty have made it their entire philosophy

– How to use the zero distance framework across three areas: distance from yourself, your team and your customers

– Why knowing your strengths isn't enough if you're not spending time on them

– What Helen's "I'm fine, it's fine" taxi moment reveals about emotional distance at work

– How to make feedback unmissable rather than occasional, and why rhythm matters more than quantity

– What zero distance from your customers or learners actually looks like in practice (including a story about a credit card in a glass of orange juice)

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/

3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod

4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a world that keeps telling you to learn faster, what if slowing down was actually the smarter move?
In this Squiggly Shortcut, Sarah makes the case for slow learning, and shares three questions and three actions to help you get started.

🎯 What You'll Learn

– Why slow learning and fast learning aren't competing, they're complementary
– Three questions from the beautiful Slow Learning website to help you zoom out and reflect on how you learn
– Why asking one "why" question every day is one of the simplest ways to slow down your thinking
– How to take a more intentional (and less overwhelming) approach to learning AI
– A slow reading idea for Learn Like a Lobster that makes one chapter feel very doable over seven weeks

📚 Resources Mentioned
SlowLearning.com

Episode 524 - Spaciousness: https://www.amazingif.com/listen/spaciousness-how-to-manage-your-attention-not-your-time/

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/
2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/
3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod
4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices